Channel 4 News falsely places Mark Regev in “occupied” territory

A story was posted on the website of the British program Channel 4 News (the home of Jon Snow) based on reports that Mark Regev, Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesman, was named to replace Daniel Taub as the next Israeli ambassador to the UK. The piece (Mark Regev tipped to become Israeli ambassador to the UK, Aug. 14th) included the following passage, providing readers with some background on the incoming ambassador who, the report noted, has been a regular interviewee on the program.

Mr Regev, 55, has described his role as Israeli government spokesman as “accidental”. His father, Martin Freiberg, was a Holocaust survivor and as a young man, he joined the socialist Jewish youth movement Habonim Dror.

When he moved to Israel as a 22-year-old, he changed his surname to Regev because his parents’ name sounded German, which he said “bothered me at the time…It didn’t seem right”.

He worked as a teacher at the Tel Katzir kibbutz in the disputed Golan Heights region of Syria that Israel occupies. Reports have suggested he was nicknamed Cyril.

It’s on the stretch of land next to the Golan which was always part of Israel and which was declared a demilitarized zone after the War of Independence. It’s under the jurisdiction of the Jordan Valley regional council and was established – in 1949 – by the Nahal brigade.